


Sharing an Ube Roll After Hours

by MoominQuartz (IceCreAMS)



Series: Fluff Bingo [5]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Dating, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Food, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Secret Relationship, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Worth Issues, Steven Universe Future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23167681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/pseuds/MoominQuartz
Summary: In the Spacetries Bakery, past closing time, Lars and the Cool Kids have a heart-to-heart.
Relationships: Buck Dewey/Jenny Pizza/Sour Cream, Buck Dewey/Jenny Pizza/Sour Cream/Lars Barriga, Lars Barriga/Buck Dewey, Lars Barriga/Jenny Pizza, Lars Barriga/Sour Cream
Series: Fluff Bingo [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655521
Comments: 25
Kudos: 94
Collections: Writing Squad Fluff Bingo





	Sharing an Ube Roll After Hours

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KrisseyCrystal (IceCreAMS)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/gifts).



> I mentioned how much I love this ship to Krissey & she immediately prompted me with it for the Fluff Bingo. Written for this ship + "Secret Relationship"! And this was so much fun, omg. Hope you guys like it! It takes place before the episode "Little Graduation," but after "Little Homeschool."
> 
> Apologies for the messy ship tagging, as this is my first time posting a poly ship and I have no idea how to properly tag it, especially when the one I was looking for wasn't one that popped up.

“I… I can’t believe it.” 

Lars struggles to wrap his head around the idea as he stares at the three of them. Sitting in his bakery after hours, the doors are locked and the lights are dimmed. The original trio sits at one of the only booths in the joint, all splitting an ube roll, while Lars leans against the counter by his empty display.

“Seriously. _All_ of you?”

“Sure.” Jenny says it like it means absolutely _nothing_ at all. Like it’s the easiest thing in the world to admit. “I like Buck and Sour Cream, and they both like me and they like each other. So why should we have to pick and choose?”

Lars’s brain is broken. “B-but… That’s so _easy.”_ And it’s so hard? Why can’t he comprehend this?

“’Sides,” Buck says around another bite of subtle sweetness, “it’s pretty fun to go on a date with more than one person.”

Is it? Lars has never done that before. The only person he’s ever dated was Sadie, and… 

“How come I never knew? How long have you guys been…?”

“A few years now,” Jenny answers with a grin. 

“You never knew because we didn’t want you to know,” Sour Cream adds, which is honest if nothing else. “It was nothin’ personal. Most people don’t know, and that’s how we like it.”

“Less people being nosy,” Buck agrees.

“I tell my daddy that I’m gonna get an apartment with my two _‘besties,’_ and he’s all about it.” Jenny laughs. “But if I told him I was dating two bi guys, he’d probably flip a lid.”

“H-he would…?” Lars’s voice is more nervous than he should be.

“Over the two guys thing,” Sour Cream clarifies.

Buck nods. “Not because he’s biphobic or anything.”

“That’d be super lame.”

“Yeah. Biphobia is for chumps.”

Lars wants to beg them to slow down, but at the same time, he’s realizing that… this actually makes a lot of sense.

How many times has he seen them walk down the boardwalk, arm-in-arm? How many times has he seen them on the beach, curled up a little too close; had hands linked in what looked like a prayer and broken up too quickly as he came near? How often has he felt like a ‘fourth wheel,’ on the outside looking in? 

He’d always chalked the latter up to his own intense social anxiety, but maybe there’d been more to it. Maybe he’d felt like that because there’d been evidence for it right in front of him, and he just hadn’t known this kind of thing was possible.

“I’m… really happy for you guys.” They all turn to look at him, blinking in surprise, and Lars feels… surprisingly heartfelt. He laughs, the sound less nervous, softer. “I’m real honored you’re opening up about this to me. I promise I won’t spill the beans to anyone.”

Jenny sighs. “Oh, honey.” 

Lars blinks.

“We’re not giving you all the back story because we think you’re a super chill friend.” Buck pauses. “Although, you _are_ a super chill friend.”

“Th...thanks?”

“We’re _asking_ you, dude.” Sour Cream shifts so he’s no longer got an arm wrapped around Buck. He picks up the fork, breaks off a piece of ube roll, and extends it to him. “Make our trio a quartet.”

Huh.

_“Huh?!”_

“Everybody knows you need four wheels on a car,” Buck says with a solemn nod, like that’s some wise proverb everyone’s grandma says.

“Four pieces to a band; vocalist, guitar, keyboard, drums.” Jenny hums in agreement.

“W-wait, wait, _wait!”_ Now he _desperately_ needs them to pump the metaphorical brakes on this conversation! He’s waving his hands wildly, face burning — which shouldn’t be possible because he’s _undead,_ and yet! Apparently dying doesn’t absolve you from the mortifying ordeal of having your embarrassments broadcast to the entire world! “What are you guys _talking_ about? _Me?”_

“Is… that a no?” Sour Cream asks, crestfallen, fork setting back against the plate.

“It—it—” It’s … _not_ a no? That revelation slaps him in the face. Hasn’t he always been envious of what they’ve had? And here they are, _inviting_ him into it. So what’s his hang up? 

“It’s… It’s a _why me?”_ The question comes across as somehow both self-deprecating and disrespectful to _them,_ but he can’t wrap his mind around it. “You guys were looking for a fourth, and you picked _me?”_

“Well, sure!” Though she says it with cheer in her voice, there’s a look on Jenny’s face that Lars has seen too often and knows too well. She’s reading him, and she’s concerned. “You’ve practically been one of us for like, two years now. And you’re a real sweet guy, Lars. You’re like a pineapple.”

“Prickly on the outside and soft on the inside, huh?” Lars sighs.

“Actually.” Buck speaking up surprises him; he even removes his sunglasses, which almost never happens. “I think you’ve become softer over the years, man. You’ve got a lot more emotional intelligence than you did as a teen and you’ve become more genuine, too. We all have. And it’s really shining through in you.”

Sour Cream smiles. “I’m bad at words, but you’re pretty hot, too.”

“I…” His voice fails him suddenly, and his eyes start misting, and it’s not because of the ‘hot’ thing.

It’s partly because of the ‘hot’ thing.

“Y-you guys would… seriously want me around?” His voice breaks, and it’s pretty pathetic. _“All_ of you?” 

“Of _course,”_ Jenny says with all the sincerity in the world. She pats the empty seat next to her, raising an eyebrow, an open invitation.

Lars has never thought of himself as lovable.

He’s made mistakes. More than anyone else ever has, probably. His social anxiety led to him a landslide of them: purposefully throwing school so he wasn’t seen as ‘nerdy;’ overemphasizing his own masculinity to the point of toxicity, because heaven forbid someone see him as even slightly _feminine;_ mistreating Ronaldo, who used to be his best friend; and then he repeated that mistake, over and over and over. With Steven, it was like water off a duck’s back; that boy didn’t care what anyone thought of him, and he had enough in him to love every person in the entire universe.

But Sadie… Sadie hadn’t been like that. She hadn’t deserved it — more so than anyone else. She’d been kind, and caring, and sensitive. And Lars had needed someone like that, someone willing to pry him open and listen to him when he needed it, someone to trust him enough to let him do the same. But she wasn’t ‘cool,’ and he couldn’t be allowed to be _seen_ with her like that, and so he did things like pretend he hated her when she wasn’t around and like he didn’t want to be with her when she was, and then he still expected her to be there for him and—

“Hey.”

He blinks and realizes he’s crying.

Sour Cream has a hand on his shoulder, concern on his face, and Lars doesn’t even remember the three of them standing up, but suddenly they’re there, and then Buck pulls him in for a tight hug. Then Jenny joins, and the three of them are surrounding him, holding him, enfolding him in all the warmth and love he never thought he’d ever earn.

And slowly, through the tears, Lars gives a soft laugh, arms wrapping around them in turn. “Hey, uh… if you’ll have me… then. Yes.”

Jenny squeals, leaning in to plant a solid kiss on his cheek. The motion is dizzying, something he’s seen Shep and Sadie do dozens of times and felt the green monster burning in his chest — not for Sadie, but for what they had. 

“You guys… wanna head back to my place?” Lars asks, cheeks heating up, even though this is no different than anything else he’s ever asked of them. “There’s… this new horror flick on Webflicks, if you guys are up for it.”

“Sweet. I love sampling that stuff.”

“Sure thing, babe, I’ve been meaning to see that one.”

“Buck is pleased.”

Buck takes Lars’s hand as they all separate, and it’s the smallest thing, but Lars feels his spirits lift, heart beating as fast as it can, to do the same things they always do in a new, exciting context.

Lars is pleased, too.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic assumes that Lars has hung out with Sadie & Shep multiple times prior to Little Graduation, and we just haven't seen it. I think that still qualifies under "Canon Complaint," LOL.


End file.
